all about flying drones

Can I Rent to Own a Drone to Save Money?

Drones
marvelous inventions which have revolutionized the way the world
carries its small activities. They are used to shoot awesome aerial
videos and photos, race, record weather and do a lot of cumbersome
stuff the human being was not able to carry out. Owning a drone is an
achievement as they cost somewhere between $50 and $3000. However,
not everyone would like to own one due to the maintenance costs
associated with owning one. That is where drone rentals come into the
picture.

Drone
rentals work in the same way as car rentals. You rent the drone for a
certain amount of time, and when you are done with it, you return it
to the owner. I know some people will ask why rent a drone when you
can just buy a new one given the costs. There are several reasons why
a person can choose to rent a drone rather than buy it;

•
For people who want to test the
features of each drone and compare them, this is the best option.
Renting a drone will give you firsthand knowledge of how a drone
performs without actually buying.

•
Professionals can rent a drone
to finish up a project. If your work does not involve the daily use
of drone, but you are required to ire the services of a drone, then
renting is the best idea. You will not have to keep a drone for which
you have no use.

•
A drone hobbyist would like to
rent the latest trend in the drone world without buying each of them
as drone technology evolves rapidly.

These
are the reasons why renting a drone is wiser than actually buying
one. If you are new to drones, I suggest that you do not rent a drone
but rather buy a new one. This is because having your own drone will
not put you in liability if you crash your drone, something which
beginners do a lot. Buy a cheap and easy to maintain drone which can
be cheaply maintained and replaced.

Rent
to Own a Drone

The
best way to rent a drone is by acquiring it through a rent to own
agreement. Rent to own a contract simply means that you are allowed
to use a drone while making regular payments to fill the purchase
price of the drone. Rent to own contracts do not invite for interest,
but you have to pay the rental fee alongside. There are several
websites that offer this service;

•
RentDelite

•
Maverick Drone Systems

•
Lensrentals

•
Blue Skies Drone Rentals

•
The Lens Depot

•
Fat Lama

•
American Drone Rentals

•
Heliguy

The
cost of renting a drone for a week depends on the renting company,
and the average cost is $200 for a well-functioning drone.

Rent
to own contracts are good plans, but you end up paying more than the
one-time price of the drone. This is because the company charges
rental fees on top of the regular payments. Rent to own is very
different from renting a drone. There are several reasons why one
would prefer rent to own contract over renting a drone.

•
In a rent to own contract, the
cost of renting a drone goes towards paying for the purchase price of
the drone rather than just paying rental fees which are not
recoupable

•
You have a longer time to test
out the drone compared to renting the drone.

•
You can easily decide to return
the drone or own it if it pleases you

Drone
Crashes

Drones
crash every now and then. Every drone owner has crashed their drone
at least once, and this is one way in which drone pilots get better.
A drone crash can, unfortunately, harm a third party or damage
property. Before getting too much into drone crashes, here are some
reasons why a drone crash happens.

•
Unchecked calibrations and parts
before takeoff. A drone owner who skips a checkup before flying their
drone is bound for a crash. This may be due to a loose battery or
wrong control calibrations.

•
Failed GPS locking. A drone
should be given enough time before a GPS lock is complete. Remember
that the GPS is the drones map and any errors in this can eventually
cause a crash.

•
Lack of attention on the drone
when flying. Most drone pilots get caught in the moment when taking
aerial footage or photos. Keep a constant lookout on the drones
surrounding, and you can save your drone from crashing by hitting
that obvious obstacle.

•
Flying out of range. Flying out
of the given range of your drone will definitely cause a crash.
Drones have limits which should not be exceeded to avoid crashes.

•
Strong winds. A strong wind can
affect the rotors and require the drone to use more power in order to
keep the drone in flight. Unexpected battery drain, therefore, causes
the crash.

•
Dead batteries. A drone has a
rechargeable battery which dies out in around 5 to 15 minutes
depending on the capacity. A drone pilot should, therefore, make a
landing before the battery dies out to prevent crashing.

What
Happens When You Crash Your Drone?

Crashing a drone happens more often than you think. Even professional drone pilots crash their drones. Crashes can happen due to many reasons some of which are not related to flying experience. A drone crash can have very serious implications. World over, there have been several drone accidents which escalated to minor tragedies. A falling drone a hurt a person and rack up thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

Recently
in the USA, a drone bumped into a Virginia Bull Run and injured a few
people most of who were spectators of the event. The event organizers
had hired a drone pilot to take footage and photos of the event, and
unfortunately, the drone crashed.

Currently,
legislation concerning accidents and compensation is not very clear
on what course should be taken in case of a drone crash. In the case
of the Virginia Bull Run accident, the case was settled out of court.

However,
you should always avoid flying your drone in populated areas to avoid
accidents involving people and property. Remember that although the
law is very shady on drone accidents, lawyers can turn the tide
against you.

Drone
Insurance

Now
that we have seen how catastrophic drone crashes can be, it is clear
that drones should be insured. Drone insurance is not compulsory for
recreational drones, but it might be useful in case your drone
crashes and does significant damage. Take the example of two
incidences;

•
A drone crashes into your
neighbor’s car, and you are liable to replace the damaged parts.
You do not have the whole amount to pay for the damage, and your
neighbor might sue you for property damage. What do you do?

•
You were flying your drone over
the street, and your drone accidentally crashes hitting a person and
causing harm, i.e. it slashes the person’s eye and you are liable
for any liability for any medical costs that person will incur. How
do you go about paying for this?

This
is where drone insurance becomes important. Drone insurance will help
you pay for large liabilities that arise when your drone causes
damage. I know you might be saying that crashing a drone is not
intentional, but you will still be held liable for such an accident.

So
how do you go about getting drone insurance for your drone? Well,
there are several companies that have drone insurance policies. Drone
insurance does not require you to register your drone. Some insurance
policies such as home insurance policies might cover the use of
drones in their policies, but it is better to inquire first instead
of making a wide guess.

Some
insurance companies view drones as aircraft and will therefore not be
willing to cover them in home insurance policies. Other insurance
companies view drones as hobby aircraft and will, therefore, cover
them.

Costs

The
costs of insurance for your drone might vary, but I guarantee you
that it’s not that expensive. We have seen how a drone can cause
extensive damage which can be hard to pay for from cash. That is why
you should shop for a good drone insurance policy.

After
doing some research, I figured out that a drone insurance policy
might cost you anywhere between $80 and $100 per year. Drone
insurance policies cover you when you are liable for the following;

•
Personal injury

•
Invasion of privacy

•
Damage to public or private
property

•
Medical expenses

You
should note that drone insurance does not cover any damage to the
drone itself unless the policy states so. However, this should not be
a problem compared to liability that comes due to a drone crash. Take
that bold step and ensure your drone from any costs that come from
liability whenever your drone crashes.

Drone
companies have transformed the concept of drones into their
application. Within the past few years, technology advancement being
fueled by the industry of smartphone electronics has strongly
influenced drone technology in the sector of multi-rotors and their
accelerated application in the commercial industry. This has resulted
in the development of many drone manufacturers all over the world.

YUNEEC

This
is an aircraft manufacturer that is based in Jiangsu town, China and
was founded in 1999. The owner of this company is known as Tian Yu.
This drone company produces and markets its aircraft in the US
through another American based aircraft manufacturer known as
Greenwing International. This company produced its 1st electric
aircraft (YUNEEC InternationalE440) that was designed for commercial
purposes in 2009, although they only built prototypes of this model.

This
company is considered by most people as an important player in the
electric aviation sector and only specializes in the easy to use
UAVs, which is not that astonishing since it initially manufactured
model aircraft that were radio controlled. One of their models,
Typhoon Q500 drone, was the first quadcopter drone in the world that
was packaged ready for flight on purchasing it. This model was later
advanced with dynamic panning and 4K camera so as to focus on its
functionality. This resulted in this model is the real
completion of the Phantom by DJI in regards to the market share.

This
company offers diverse options for the UAV models that can be
utilized in various applications. They even have the models for
entry-level to introduce and enhance safe drone flights through
useful security features and different flight modes. They also have
commercial drones that have thermal cameras to assist you to
extinguish and identify the fire hotspots quickly. This makes it very
easy for different people to get their desired drone models for
different purposes in this company.

Parrot
Drone

This
is an unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer that is based in France.
This company was initially a manufacturer of a certain wireless
product in France that specialized in signal processing and voice
recognition. It then begun to steadily advance to the UAV market and
its impact in the drone technology is currently being felt. Although
the DJI drone company is responsible for notable innovations, Parrot
drone manufacturer has exceeded it in worldwide awareness on drone
technology according to most reports. This company offers direct
competition to other drone companies especially in the markets of
aerial video and aerial photography.

One
of its popular cameras UAV is the Bebop series model which is highly
affordable which is probably why its demand in the market is
currently high. Another popular model from this company is the AR
drone which is the discontinued RC flying quadcopter helicopter. The
design of this drone enables it to be operated and controlled through
tablet or mobile operating systems that are either Android or iOS
supported, in their respective applications or through particular
unofficial software that is available for other devices such as
Symbian, Samsung BADA and Windows Phone.

3D
Robotics

This
is a drone company that is based in the US with its headquarters in
the city of Berkley, California. This company makes the drone
software that is used for mining, engineering and construction
companies, along with the government agencies. The 3D robotics was
co-founded in the year 2009 by Jordi Munoz (Mexican engineer) and
Chris Anderson (entrepreneur and author).

Before
2016, this company marketed and designed recreational and commercial
drones. It currently specializes in manufacturing various kinds of
UAVs such as the consumer UAVs, ready for flight quadcopters that are
used for mapping and aerial photography, the fixed-wing drones.

This
company mainly focuses on autonomous drones with GPS points planning
(smart drone). Additionally, this firm has concerns in the technology
of UAVs for business applications, aerial photography and daily
exploration. Despite the fact that this company has recently
experienced some setbacks, competing with various drone manufacturers
in the market of consumer drones has resulted in staff layoffs and
organizational reshuffling.

INSITU

This
is a drone company based in the United States that develops,
manufactures and designs the UAVs. This is a subsidiary that is
wholly owned by Boeing Defense, Security and Space and has many
offices in America, Australia, and the UK. It was founded for
development of Aerosonde concept in the early 1990s for the
long-range climate and weather reconnaissance. Its name is derived
from the procedure of measuring the weather in place (in situ)
instead of doing remotely, using satellites.

This
company initially partnered with the Boeing Aircraft Company, before
they officially acquired it to become their subsidiary. Prior to its
acquisition, his company had inside tracks on the projects by
Pentagon since permanent adoption from the image reconnaissance of
the naval for the fishing boats of commercial purposes after the
onset of war in Iraq. Their most recent and visible military model is
Boeing ScanEagle, which is a drone that does not require a runway
when being launched through the pneumatic catapult. This firm has
served the military of the United States since 2004. Recently, the
Marine Corps and US Navy bought the integrated unmanned aerial
vehicle by INSITU for application in reconnaissance and combat.

Aeryon
labs

This
is a company based in Canada that deals in the manufacturing and
development of the UAVs. This drone company was established in 2007
and has its headquarters in Waterloo city, Ontario. There is another
subsidiary of this company that is wholly owned, based in the city of
Denver, Colorado and is known as Aeryon Defense. It focuses on
support and sales for the government of the United States. In 2009,
FLIR Systems purchased Aeryon Labs for $200 million.

This
Canadian company specializes in VTOL (vertical take-off and landing)
scout UAVs that don’t need the lunch equipment. This Aeryon
scout mini-drone has the capability of thermal imaging, stills of
high resolution and is controlled by the tablet computer interface
instead of the traditional joysticks thus reducing the needed
training amount for its operation. You simply need to point on the
interface of Google Map that is linked to the GPS unit system. One of
the models of this company, SkyRanger Unmanned Aircraft Systems are
being deployed in more than twenty militaries and also used with the
industrial operators and public safety in more than thirty countries.

Precision
Hawk

This
is a data and commercial drones American company that was established
in2010 and has its headquarters in Raleigh, which is North Carolina’s
capital. It also has another worldwide office located in Canada in
the city of Toronto and various satellite offices in various regions
of the world. This company manufactures UANs and is currently
heavily focusing on developing the software for analysis of aerial
data (DataMapper) and the LATAS (UAV safety systems). This
company is one of the members in the Pathfinder initiative of the FAA
in the USA and the UTM program by NASA. In 2016, this company
received the first exemption from the FAA allowing it to fly
commercial UAVs beyond the visual sight line of the operator.

It specializes in manufacturing fully autonomous drones for data management, analysis, and collection at low altitudes. This company can be considered to be of a company that deals with information delivery as opposed to manufacturing UAVs. This company employs drones as part of the technological tools series that are meant for improving the business operations by giving them information gathered from the serial data. One of their popular models is the Lancaster Mark 3 which a small aircraft which collects remote and extremely high sensing information for business and happen to be powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) instead of human operators.

CybAero

This
is a company in the industry of Aerospace and is located in Sweden.
This company manufactures and develops helicopters that are remotely
piloted. This public company is traded on the Stock exchange of
Stockholm. This company has been manufacturing helicopters that are
remotely piloted since 2003, although it has currently transitioned
in the manufacture of drones. Since this transition, they’ve made
some contributions in the drone industry including the manufacture of
the 1st public flight demonstration on UAVs in Sweden. Additionally,
this company signed a partnering agreement with another company known
as Indra.